How to sell your idea more effectively at work

NO is typical word salespeople hear all day long, every selling day. For average salespeople those words signal loss, defeat. The gut triggers failure and rejection. If salespeople just accept that word and mentally pack away their sales materials and start thinking about the next appointment, no sale ever would have happened.

When you are out to sell your idea to sponsors at work, situation is not very different. You will get “No” through different words. A series of them. In a typical sale, you might have to cross at least five NOs. Converting each NO into a micro-yes is critical to move ahead. Sales process is more like an inverted funnel, working against gravity. A series of micro YESs make it a big YES. Each NO has a different meaning. Attending to that carefully by providing relevant information helps you gravitate well towards YES.

The NO sign is not a stop signal. It is just a signpost. The buyer/ sponsors will know what’s going on your mind. If you don’t like sales, they’ll know it. If you don’t believe in the value of your product/service they’ll know it. If you don’t like something about your buyers/ sponsors, they will know it. If you have indeed given up on the sale, your buyer/sponsor will sense that. As a result of your nonverbal communication, your buyer/ sponsor loses interest.

Buyers like to buy from confident people. Sponsors like to support confident people. Confident people continue exploring all options after they hear the word NO. That gets them to operate on next gear, to find and use missing elements, to make the offer complete and compelling enough to get to YES.

Don’t undersell. Don’t oversell either. Sell right. Make the offer, proposition relevant and its impact, significant. Keep your confidence and let it play for you. This helps you sell ideas more effectively at work.